THE boss of a classic car repair shop is hoping to move his business back to its former Redditch site after it was devastated by a fire.

A planning application has been lodged to replace a factory, formerly known as Neon House on Bartleet Road, with a similar unit following a massive fire in July last year.

The family-run company Twenty-Ten Engineering, who specialise in renovating classic Range Rovers, were left with “nothing” as the blaze ripped through the workshop and destroyed 14 cars, some of which were extremely rare models.

Tools and irreplaceable parts found over the years were also destroyed in the fire, believed to have been started by offenders breaking into the yard trying to steal parts for scrap.

After the fire, company director Phil Holland said that everything in the shop had gone. Once prized cars turned into “unrecognisable lumps of twisted metal,” documents and car keys had melted, and “nothing was salvageable”.

Redditch Advertiser:

The company then moved to a site at Oxleasow Road where they continue to work today, but the director says they are more “limited” in what they can do.

According to the planning application submitted to Redditch Borough Council, the fire damaged building has been removed for safety reasons leaving the building’s ground floor slab. It also says “it is expected that the previous tenant would return and carry on their business as before.”

The 41-year-old boss says he wants the company to move back to the “great little community” near Washford Industrial Estate in the future.

He told the Advertiser: “We are hoping to move back to the site. In the current climate we are not sure how long that is going to take.

“It’s been nearly a year since the fire, and we are already part way through a three-year lease at our current site.

Redditch Advertiser:

“The planning has been adjusted to suit the needs of our business. Perhaps we can eventually expand.

“It’s just a waiting game now. We’ve got plenty of work coming in and we’re building on everything as we move along.

“We took a big hit from the fire, but it didn’t stop us. It could have been very demoralising.”